Casey Family Programs, a national grant maker in the child welfare field, has launched the Community Opportunity Map, a tool that allows users to see localized indicators connected to community health and maltreatment prevention.
“We hope the tool will be used by community members, policymakers, child welfare leaders, city government officials and other stakeholders to build hope and promote well-being for families and children,” said the foundation, in a statement announcing the map.
Using data mined through the U.S. Census Bureau, users are able to specify states, cities, zip codes or neighborhoods. The map will pull up the following indicators for any area selected:
- Housing: Percent of vacant houses, percent of people paying more than 30 percent of income for housing, and resident turnover.
- Families: Percent of single-mother homes, overall child-to-adult ratio, and percent of people over the age of 65.
- Economy: Unemployment rate, poverty rate of adults with high school diploma or GED.
- Demographics: Population, racial/ethnic breakdown, percent of population that is foreign born.
Casey said the indicators available on the map were “carefully selected based on their association with rates of child maltreatment at different levels of geography and their availability to the public.”
Click here to access the user’s guide, and click here to access the Community Opportunity Map.